Jinxed | A Halloween Romance | Coven Corner #1

Sneak Peek at Coven Corner #2: Spelled Kiss

A YEAR LATER

A gust of autumn wind sent leaves skittering around Bryony's feet in a whirl of bright colors. The chill of Samhain was in the air, mingled with the sweet scent of apples and baked treats from the kitchen—hand pulled taffy, gooey caramels, rich hot chocolate, and fresh toffee.

Every autumn, Sky helped Bryony in the orchard, greenhouses, and pumpkin patch. When the work was done, they went hunting for late mushrooms until it grew too dark to see anything. Then they would huddle in Bryony's cramped attic bedroom—smelling of mothballs, lavender, old roses, and dirt, no matter how many air freshening spells she used—and told each other scary stories by the pale light emanating from their wands.

But for most of this year, Sky had barely been around. She had been preoccupied with her new boyfriend, Aiden Hall—a fancy, powerful warlock from New York, and the owner of the local occult shop known as Spellbound.

Bryony tried not to hold it against Sky. She liked seeing her best friend so happy. Sky glowed, as if there was a sun in her chest and she couldn't contain the light that poured out of her.

Because Sky was head over heels in love.

Bryony crouched on her heels with a scowl. She let her wand dangle from her fingers, lost in thought. She absently poked at a nearby pumpkin and a ghost went wriggling out of it with an offended noise.

"Excuse me," the ghost said. "That was quite rude. I was having a very pleasant nap inside that pumpkin."

"You're a ghost," Bryony replied drily. "You don't sleep anyway."

The ghost sniffed, offended. It drifted off into the forest at the edge of the pumpkin patch.

Bryony had never been in love. Not even close. She wasn't the type for it. She was always busy with one thing or another—siblings, practicing her spells, keeping the family business, Pagan Posies up and running.

She didn't have time for romance. Or at least that's what she told herself. There might have been another reason, one that she didn't have the stomach to admit to herself.

For an entire year, Bryony watched as Sky drifted through the town of Wildemoor as if she was lost in a trance, hypnotized with a permanent smile on her face. She was starry-eyed all the time.

It was driving Bryony crazy.

Her little sister, Seline, came barreling up to Bryony, dragging Bryony from her thoughts. Seline held up a small pumpkin the size of her palm. At only eight years old, her palm wasn't very big to begin with. The pumpkin was practically the size of an egg.

"Can you carve this little one for me?" she said.

Bryony took the pumpkin and inspected it, rolling it around in her fingers.

"What kind of face would you like?" she said.

"It has to be scary. Maybe like a banshee or something."

"Wouldn't you prefer a nicer face?"

"Nope. It's the week of Samhain. I want spooky."

Bryony raised an eyebrow. "You're eight. Aren't you supposed to be afraid of the things that go bump in the night?"

Seline shot Bryony a withering look. She brandished her own wand—a fat, sturdy branch of elm wood—and clutched in her grip like a knife.

"I'm not afraid of anything," Seline declared. "Everything else should be afraid of me."

Bryony couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. "Good girl. That's the Torres way. I'll give you the spookiest banshee face you've ever seen."